TODAYS TOP HEADLINES
The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com
Thursday, December 6, 2018 3A
Nation bids farewell to George H.W. Bush
CAROLYN RASTER I Associated Press
The flag-draped casket of former President George H.W. Bush is carried
by a military honor guard past former President George W. Bush, President
Donald Trump, first lady Melania Trump, former President Barack Obama,
Michelle Obama, former President Bill Clinton, and former Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton, at the conclusion of a State Funeral at the National
Cathedral, Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2018, in Washington.
BY CALVIN WOODWARD,
LAURIE KELLMAN
AND ASHRAF KHALIL
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The nation
bid goodbye to George H.W. Bush
with high praise, cannon salutes
and gentle humor Wednesday, cel
ebrating the life of the Texan who
embraced a lifetime of service in
Washington and was the last presi
dent to fight for the U.S. in wartime.
Three former presidents looked on
at Washington National Cathedral
as a fourth — George W. Bush —
eulogized his dad as “the brightest
of a thousand points of light. ”
After three days of remem
brance in the capital city, the Air
Force plane with Bush’s casket left
for a final service in Houston and
burial Thursday at his family plot
on the presidential library grounds
at Texas A&M University in Col
lege Station. His final resting place
is alongside Barbara Bush, his wife
of 73 years, and Robin Bush, the
daughter who died of leukemia at
age 3.
His plane, which often serves as
Air Force One, arrived at Elling
ton Field outside Houston in late
afternoon.
The national funeral service at
the cathedral was a tribute to a
president, a patriarch and a faded
political era that prized military ser
vice and public responsibility. It was
laced with indirect comparisons to
President Donald Trump but was
not consumed by them, as speakers
focused on Bush’s public life and
character — with plenty of cracks
about his goofy side, too.
Trump sat with his wife, a trio
of ex-presidents and their wives,
several of the group sharp critics
of his presidency and one of them,
Hillary Clinton, his 2016 Democratic
foe. Apart from courteous nods and
some handshakes, there was little
interaction between Trump and the
others.
George W. Bush broke down
briefly at the end of his eulogy while
invoking the daughter his parents
lost in 1953 and his mother, who died
in April. He said he took comfort in
knowing “Dad is hugging Robin and
holding Mom’s hand again. ”
The family occupied the White
House for a dozen years — the 41st
president defeated after one term,
the 43rd serving two. Jeb Bush
stepped up to try to extend that run
but fell short when Trump won the
2016 Republican primaries.
The elder Bush was “the last
great-soldier statesman,” historian
Jon Meacham said in his eulogy,
“our shield” in dangerous times.
But he took a lighter tone, too,
noting that Bush, campaigning in a
crowd in a department store, once
shook hands with a mannequin.
Rather than flushing in embarrass
ment, he simply quipped, “Never
know. Gotta ask.”
Meacham recounted how come
dian Dana Carvey once said the key
to doing an impersonation of Bush
was “Mr. Rogers trying to be John
Wayne.”
None of that would be a surprise
to Bush. Meacham had read his
eulogy to him, said Bush spokesman
Jim McGrath, and Bush responded
to it with the crack: “That’s a lot
about me, Jon.”
The congregation at the cathe
dral, filled with foreign leaders and
diplomats, Americans of high office
and others touched by Bush’s life,
rose for the arrival of the casket,
accompanied by clergy of faiths
from around the world. In their row
together, Trump and former Presi
dents Barack Obama, Jimmy Carter
and Bill Clinton stood with their
spouses and all placed their hands
over their hearts.
Alan Simpson, former Republi
can senator from Wyoming, regaled
the congregation with stories from
his years as Bush’s friend in Wash
ington. More seriously, he recalled
that when he went through a rough
patch in the political game, Bush
conspicuously stood by him against
the advice of aides. “You would
have wanted him on your side,” he
said.
Simpson said Bush “loved a good
joke — the richer the better. And he
threw his head back and gave that
great laugh, but he never, ever could
remember a punchline. And I mean
never.”
George W. Bush turned the
humor back on the acerbic ex-sena-
tor, saying of the late president: “He
placed great value onagood joke, so
he chose Simpson to speak.”
Meacham praised Bush’s call to
volunteerism, placing his “1,000
points of light” alongside Abraham
Lincoln’s call to honor “the better
angels of our nature” in the Ameri
can rhetorical canon. Meacham
called those lines “companion
verses in America’s national hymn. ”
Trump had mocked “1,000 points
of light” last summer at a rally,
saying “What the hell is that? Has
anyone ever figured that one out?
And it was put out by a Republican,
wasn’t it?”
Former Canadian Prime Minis
ter Brian Mulroney praised Bush as
a strong world leader who helped
oversee the end of the Cold War and
the collapse of the Soviet Union and
helped bring about the North Amer
ican Free Trade Agreement with
Canada and Mexico, signed into law
by his successor, Clinton.
With Trump, a bitter NAFTA
critic, seated in the front row, Mul
roney hailed the “largest and rich
est free trade area in the history
of the world.” The three countries
have agreed on a revised trade
agreement pushed by Trump.
Earlier, a military band played
“Hail to the Chief” as Bush’s casket
was carried down the steps of the
U.S. Capitol, where he had lain in
state. Family members looked on
as servicemen fired off a cannon
salute.
His hearse was then driven in
a motorcade to the cathedral cer
emony, slowing in front of the White
House, the route lined with people
much of the way, bundled in winter
hats and taking photos.
Waiting for his arrival inside,
Trump shook hands with Obama
and former first lady Michelle
Obama, who greeted him by say
ing “Good morning.” Trump did not
shake hands with Bill and Hillary
Clinton, who looked straight ahead.
Bill Clinton and Mrs. Obama
smiled and chatted as music played.
Carter was seated silently next
to Hillary Clinton in the cavern
ous cathedral. Obama cracked up
laughing at someone’s quip. Vice
President Mike Pence shook Cart
er’s hand.
Trump tweeted Wednesday that
the day marked “a celebration for
a great man who has led a long and
distinguished life.”
Documents show Facebook used
user data as competitive weapon
abersham
treat
BY DANICA KIRKA,
FRANK BAJAK AND
BARBARA 0RTUTAY
Associated Press
Internal Facebook docu
ments released by a U.K.
parliamentary committee
offer the clearest evidence
yet that the social network
has used its enormous trove
of user data as a competi
tive weapon, often in ways
designed to keep its users in
the dark.
Parliament’s media com
mittee accused Facebook on
Wednesday of cutting special
deals with some app develop
ers to give them more access
to data, while icing out others
that it viewed as potential
rivals.
In other documents, com
pany executives discussed
how they were keeping the
company’s collection and
exploitation of user data
from its users. That included
quietly collecting the call
records and text messages of
users of phones that run on
Google’s Android operating
system without asking their
permission.
The U.K. committee
released more than 200
pages of documents on the
tech giant’s internal discus
sions about the value of
users’ personal information.
While they mostly cover the
period between 2012 and
2015 —the first three years
after Facebook went public
— they offer a rare glimpse
into the company’s inner
workings and the extent to
which it used people’s data
to make money while pub
licly vowing to protect their
privacy.
The company’s critics said
the new revelations rein
forced their concerns over
what users actually know
about how Facebook treats
their data.
“These kinds of schemes
are exactly why companies
must be required to disclose
exactly how they are col
lecting and sharing our data,
with stiff penalties for com
panies that lie about it,” Sen.
Ron Wyden, an Oregon Dem
ocrat, said in a statement.
Facebook called the docu
ments misleading and said
the information they contain
is “only part of the story.”
“Like any business, we
had many internal conversa
tions about the various ways
we could build a sustainable
business model for our plat
form,” the company said in
a statement. “But the facts
are clear: We’ve never sold
people’s data.”
In a Facebook post, com
pany CEO Mark Zuckerberg
sought to put the documents
in context. “Of course, we
don’t let everyone develop
on our platform,” he wrote.
Zuckerberg
“We blocked a lot
of sketchy apps. We
also didn’t allow
developers to use our
platform to replicate
our functionality or
grow their services
virally in a way
that creates little
value for people on
Facebook.”
The U.K. committee seized
the documents from app
developer Six4Three, maker
of a now-defunct bikini-pic
ture search app. Six4Three
acquired the files as part of
a U.S. lawsuit that accuses
Facebook of deceptive, anti
competitive busi
ness practices. The
documents remain
under court seal in
the U.S.
In a summary
of key issues per
taining to the
documents, the com
mittee said Face-
book “whitelisted,”
or made exceptions for
companies such as Airbnb
and Netflix, that gave them
continued access to users’
“friends” even after the tech
giant announced changes in
2015 to end the practice.
“Facebook have clearly
entered into whitelisting
agreements with certain
companies, which meant that
after the platform changes in
2014/15 they maintained full
access to friends data,” the
committee said in a state
ment. “It is not clear that
there was any user consent
for this, nor how Facebook
decided which companies
should be whitelisted or not.”
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Hall County Schools
PUBLIC .’NOTICE
HALL COUNTY BOARD OP EDUCATION
2019 BOARD MEETING DATES
THE HALL COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION SHALL CONVENE ITS RECiULAR MEETINGS
FOR 2019 ACCORDING TO THE FOLLOWINCi SCHEDULE. ALL MEETINGS EXCEPT THE MAY
WORK SESSION WILL BE HELD AT THE HALL COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT CENTRAL
OFFICE BUILDING LOCATED AT 711 GREEN STREET. THE MAY WORK SESSION WILL BE
HELD AT CHESTATEE HIGH SCHOOL LOCATED AT 3005 SARDIS ROAD, GAINESVILLE.
WORK SESSIONS WILL BEGIN AT 5:00 P.M. ON THE SECOND MONDAY OF EACH MONTH
(EXCEPTIONS AS NOTED*), AND REGULAR BUSINESS MEETINGS WILL BEGIN AT 5:00 P.M.
ON THE FOURTH MONDAY OF EACH MONTH (EXCEPTIONS AS NOTED*):
WORK SESSIONS
REGULAR MEETINGS
Second Monday of Each Month
Fourth Monday of Each Month
Conference Room - 5:00 P.M.
Conference Room - 5:00 P.M.
(Exceptions as noted*)
(Exceptions as noted *)
January 7, 2019*
January 28, 2019
February 4, 2019*
February 18, 2019*
March 4. 2019*
March 18. 2019*
April 8. 2019
April 22,2019
May 13, 2019 (Chestatec HS - 6:00 P.M.)
May 20, 2019*
June 10,2019
June 24, 2019
July 15, 2019*
July 22, 2019
August 12,2019
August 26, 2019
September 9, 2019
September 23, 2019
Oclobcr 14,2019
October 28. 2019
November 11, 2019
November 18, 2019*
December 9, 2019 (Combined)
December 9, 2019 (Combined *)
Approved by Hall County BOE on 11/26/18
*
¥
*
Greater Hall Chamber's Annual Legislative Forum
Thursday, December 13
7:30 am - 9:30 am
neW Lanier Technical College
Ramsey Conference Center
^ 2535 Lanier Tech Drive in Gainesville
Special Guest Governor Nathan Deal
and the Hall County Legislative Delegation
Governor Nathan Deal
Butch Miller
49th State Senate
John Wilkinson
50th State Senate
Lee Hawkins
27th House District
Matt Dubnik
29th House District
Emory Dunahoo Timothy Barr
30th House District / 03rd House District
$25 Chamber Members | $35 Non-Members | $350 Reserved Table
Reservations Required | Non-Refundable | Includes Full Buffet Breakfast
Gerri Collins: 770-532-6206 x 106 • gcollins@ghcc.com
Online: GreaterHallChamber.com/events
Open to the Public
Greater Hall ^ELECTRIC MEMBERSH^SCORPORATION“
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
